Walter Ehle

Walter Ehle
Grave 21-42
Born	28 April 1913 Windhuk, German South West Africa
Died	18 November 1943(1943-11-18) (aged 30) St. Trond, German-occupied Belgium
Buried	Lommel, Belgium
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Branch	Luftwaffe
Service years	1935–1943
Rank	Major (major)
Unit	Condor Legion ZG 1 NJG 1
Commands	II./ NJG 1
Conflicts	See battles Spanish Civil War World War II Land campaigns: Invasion of Poland Battle of France Air campaigns: European air campaign Battle of Britain Defense of the Reich  †

Walter Ehle (28 April 1913 – 18 November 1943) was a Luftwaffe night fighter ace and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during World War II. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, and its variants were the highest awards in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. Walter Ehle claimed 39 aerial victories, 35 of them at night.^{Note 1}

Ehle was born on 28 April 1913 in Windhuk in German South West Africa, present-day Windhoek is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Namibia.¹

At the start of the war Ehle flew with 3./ZG 1 and was credited with three daylight kills before the unit was redesignated 3./Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 (NJG 1) and he became a night fighter.

Following the 1939 aerial Battle of the Heligoland Bight, RAF attacks shifted to the cover of darkness, initiating the Defence of the Reich campaign.² By mid-1940, Generalmajor (Brigadier General) Josef Kammhuber had established a night air defense system dubbed the Kammhuber Line. It consisted of a series of control sectors equipped with radars and searchlights and an associated night fighter. Each sector named a Himmelbett (canopy bed) would direct the night fighter into visual range with target bombers. In 1941, the Luftwaffe started equipping night fighters with airborne radar such as the Lichtenstein radar. This airborne radar did not come into general use until early 1942.³

Ehle was appointed Gruppenkommandeur (group commander) of II. Gruppe of NJG 1 on 6 October 1940, succeeding Hauptmann Heinrich Graf von Stillfried und Rattonitz.⁴ His sixth night victory was a Bristol Blenheim shot down on 2 June 1942, and he had 16 victories in total by the end of 1942.

On 18 November 1943 Walter Ehle's Messerschmitt Bf 110 crashed near St. Trond, Belgium. As he was landing his airfield lights were extinguished; his aircraft crashed and he and his crew, Ofw. Leidenbach (Bordfunker—radio/wireless operator) and Uffz. Derlitzky (Bordschütze—aerial gunner), perished. He was succeeded by Major Eckart-Wilhelm von Bonin as commander of II. Gruppe of NJG 1.⁴

Major Ehle was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) on 29 August after 31 victories and at the time of his death he was credited with 39. He shot down a total of 38 enemy aircraft of which 35 were at night.

According to Obermaier, Ehle was credited with 39—four daytime and 35 nighttime—aerial victories.⁵ Foreman, Parry and Mathews, authors of Luftwaffe Night Fighter Claims 1939 – 1945, researched the German Federal Archives and found records for 34 nocturnal victory claims.⁶ Mathews and Foreman also published Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, listing Ehle with 34 claims, including three as a Zerstörer pilot, plus three further unconfirmed claims.⁷

• Aviator badge
• Front Flying Clasp of the Luftwaffe in Gold
• Spanish Cross in Gold with Swords (14 April 1939)⁷
• Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st Class
• German Cross in Gold on 20 October 1942 as Hauptmann in the II./Nachtjagdgeschwader 1^{39Note 3}
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 29 August 1943 as Major and Gruppenkommandeur of the II./Nachtjagdgeschwader 1⁴⁰⁴¹